6 TheAnglican
NEWS
December 2019
Who’s on your Christmas card list? E
veryone loves to receive a letter. Even at a time when fewer people send letters, and email and text are the preferred vehicles of communication, receiving a letter – especially a personal one – is always appreciated. When you look at your Christmas card list, who do you usually include? We often think of people we haven’t seen in some time – those who are hundreds of miles away or across the ocean in a far-off land. These people tend to be at the top of our family’s list. It would never occur to anyone by looking at, or trying to pronounce, my surname that I would include Wales as part of my family heritage, but it is indeed the case. My mother was born and raised in north Wales and immigrated to Canada in 1964. As a result, I have an extended family some five time zones away. Though we are in regular contact through Facebook, I still make a habit of sending a card and a photograph of our children every Christmas. Many churches in our diocese stay connected with parishioners throughout the
THE STEWARD By Peter Misiaszek year via newsletters, email and invitations to events. But how often is our communication limited to regular attendees or donors? If we dig a little deeper into our membership rolls, we can find many people who don’t fall into the “regulars” category, including shut-ins, infrequent attenders, those who have moved or fallen away, seniors, singles, families that participated in sacramental preparation, and so on. The list of “others” can be lengthy. It’s the “others” that I am most interested in connecting with. In our diocese’s donor database, we have a record of more than 30,000 individuals, stretching back to the 1990s. Often, we use language like “renewals” or “lapsed” to organize our mailing list; these tend to be the people that we focus our attention on retaining or increasing their gift amount. But the “others” – the people who are part of the myriad of connections that we have acquired over the years – shouldn’t be neglected. There is a school of thought in fund-
raising that says if a donor hasn’t given in the last three years, they may as well be considered brand new – as if they had never connected with us before. A competing viewpoint is that all donors – even the ones that are dated – should be retained. I am more inclined to embrace the latter, not only because they are people who know us and thought enough of us at one time to donate, but it is more in line with our Christian attitude that all are welcome and none are forsaken, even when they have fallen away. Think of the prodigal son or the lost sheep as examples in scripture. The stewardship office is applying these principles to our Advent mailings this year. We are reconnecting with, and inviting, donors who have fallen off the radar screen in recent years. That means we are inviting friends who may have given to the Bishop’s Company or FaithWorks some five to seven years back who we’ve lost contact with, or they may have forgotten to include us in their annual giving to charity. This pattern can be applied to our parishes as well. With Christmas just a few weeks away, perhaps we should consider inviting everyone on our membership lists and the immediate neighbourhood to
celebrate the birth of Jesus. I think we can take for granted that people know that services are offered at Christmas time. Consider how it might be received, however, if everyone on our list – even those we have lost contact with – received an invitation to celebrate in this joyous event. It might even open the door to renewed friendships, connections and church participation. In fundraising parlance, “if you don’t ask, you don’t get.” So many have fallen away and simply stopped coming. Some will never return. But some want to come back and are looking for an opening. Let’s personally invite them. I don’t believe it is enough for a church to simply be present. Just because it’s Christmas and our church has a big sign on it with service times, that’s not enough to incline many to grace our doors; they need more of a prompting. How about a personal invitation? Now that’s a big deal. Everyone loves to get a letter. Why not personally invite everyone to experience Jesus’ birthday party this year? And do it up fancy – for some, it’s the most anticipated day of the year. Peter Misiaszek is the diocese’s director of Stewardship Development.
Church to provide emergency shelter in York Region
40th ANNIVERSARY
Bishop Jenny Andison is joined by Holy Family, Heart Lake’s current and past incumbents, including Archbishop Gregory Kerr-Wilson of Calgary (third from right), and church members at the Brampton church’s 40th anniversary celebrations on Oct. 27. After the service, about 240 people gathered for a celebratory luncheon. Holy Family, Heart Lake is one of the most diverse churches in the diocese, with members from more than a dozen countries, annually celebrating South Asian Heritage Month and Black History Month. PHOTO COURTESY OF HOLY FAMILY, HEART LAKE
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HOLY Trinity, Thornhill is taking seriously its commitment to stand in solidarity with those living in poverty. In a special meeting on Oct. 20, its vestry voted to authorize the use of the church’s facilities to host a pilot emergency shelter project with Mosaic Interfaith Out of the Cold on eight Friday evenings from the end of November to January. This follows from the 2019 social justice vestry motion, through which Holy Trinity’s vestry resolved to support those living in poverty through prayer, outreach and advocacy. The emergency shelter is a scaled-down version of full-service shelters offered deeper into the winter. The parish will provide the space and the volunteers to make the emergency shelter possible. Mosaic Interfaith will provide the mattresses, blankets, security and transportation for guests, as well as the funds. This opportunity came to the parish because of provincial funding cuts that have negatively affected the work of Mosaic Interfaith. The organization needed more shelter nights to secure a certain level of funding. Rehana Sunar, executive director for Mosaic-York Region, described the problem for the parish at a town hall meeting in held in the spring. Poverty and homelessness have been increasing in York Region. It’s estimated that more than 2,800 people are in shelters in the region, yet there is a limited number of permanent shelters. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that the majority of shelters are in the
Rehana Sunar north end of the region, while the majority of the population is in the south. The committee at Holy Trinity responsible for overseeing the pilot will report to the annual vestry meeting in 2020 when, depending on the results, the vestry may be asked to decide whether to host the program on a more permanent basis in the future.
